Viasat channels on Cyfrowy Polsat

November 19, 2012

Modern Times Group’s (MTG) Viasat Broadcasting has entered into a strategic cooperation with Poland’s leading media group and owner of the country’s largest satellite operator – Cyfrowy Polsat. Viasat’s Explorer, History and Nature factual pay-TV channels will be available on Cyfrowy Polsat’s DTH satellite platform in Poland starting in November 2012. The three channels will also start to carry advertisements from January 1st 2013, with advertising sales handled by Polsat Media. The three channels will be co-branded in the Polish market from the beginning of 2013.

The three channels will be offered in Cyfrowy Polsat’s ‘Family HD Package’, which reaches approximately 2.8 million subscribers. The three channels will continue to be available on other third-party cable and IPTV platforms in Poland.

Viasat Explorer celebrates real men everywhere, with a diverse range of locations, vocations, experiences and passions. The stars are genuine, down to earth everyday men and women. We share their stories and salute their lives in hit shows like Ice Pilots and World’s Toughest Truckers.

Viasat History takes the viewers on powerful journeys through time, offering intelligent, well-researched programmes that entertains and broadens the mind. Our content is fresh and modern yet personal, bringing history to life with captivating stories. It is one of the few channels purely dedicated to history and includes shows like Myth Hunters and Wartime Farm.

Viasat Nature is a premium nature channel, ideal for families and children to enjoy. It is packed with award winning content, with emphasis on cute and warm wildlife programming. Viasat Nature focus on the positive relationship between animals and humans in shows like Hope for Wildlife and Zoo Juniors.

Viasat’s Emerging Markets pay-TV business markets and sells pay-TV packages on its own platform and also distributes 23 channels via third party pay-TV networks to subscribers in 31 countries across Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and the United States. The wholesale channel business has over 75 million mini-pay TV subscriptions across these territories.

Irina Gofman, CEO Russia & CIS and Pay-TV Emerging Markets for Viasat Broadcasting, commented: “We’re excited that our channels will be available even more broadly now in what is one of the largest media markets in Central and Eastern Europe. These high quality channels provide viewers with a rich and varied range of documentary and factual entertainment programming from around the world. We look forward to working with Cyfrowy Polsat to attract both subscribers and advertisers to the channels.”

Dominik Libicki, President of the Management Board and CEO of Cyfrowy Polsat, commented: “I’m glad to provide our subscribers with a wider programming offering with the inclusion of the Viasat channels, which offer varied, high-quality and interesting TV entertainment. I’m certain that they will resonate well with our viewers and thanks to the cooperation between Viasat and our platform the popularity of the channels will grow in the Polish market. The fact that Polsat Television’s portfolio is extended by the new category of ‘documentary and factual’ channels is also very important for us.”